Hein Gericke was put back into administration the week before Christmas with just three stores remaining open in the run up to New Year’s Eve but now all have closed their doors. The 12 stores bought by J&S Accessories will reemploy existing staff wherever possible and hope to open doors for business as soon as possible before being rebranded as J&S later this month.

A spokesman for J&S said: “We are pleased to announce that we have acquired 12 Hein Gericke sites. These will be launched as J&S Accessories stores in January. All details of the store openings will be up on our website/social media as soon as we have confirmed dates.

“We can confirm we will honour Hein Gericke vouchers to a value of 50% with a minimum spend of £250.”

Hein Gericke GB was part of the same German group as Hein Gericke GmbH; the parent company which was bought by General Equity Group AG which is based in St Gallen, Switzerland at the end of 2012.

This latest insolvency means 164 employees in Germany and 85 shops across Europe have been shut down. There are 54 shops in Germany which remain open until further notice. A statement from the parent company Hein Gericke GmbH states it is working hard to find new finance and potential new investors.